Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Sunday Toughie 176 by Beam
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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SJB is having a well-deserved day off to celebrate his birthday (Many Happy Returns, John) so I’m providing a few hints for the Sunday Toughie.
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 176 (Hints)”
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Between the title and the preamble there’s not a lot to go on, but I thought I’d see what ChatGPT could come up with. I asked, “A themed crossword puzzle asks us to identify a text containing an often repeated word. Can you suggest any possible texts?”
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where late afternoon, early evening yesterday we had some rain, not enough but better than nothing, and a feeble attempt at a thunder storm.
For me, and I stress for me©, Dada upped the ante for today’s puzzle – four long uns, two anagrams, one lurker with an indicator usually associated with another type of clue, and one homophone all in a symmetric 32 clues; with 16 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Candidates for favourite – 5a, 16a, 19a, 27a,2d, 4d, and 8d.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, a number of the more difficult clues have been selected and hints provided for them.
To celebrate the appearance of puzzle 800 in the NTSPP series, we are pleased to offer this special puzzle crafted by Hydra, the group of setters responsible for the previous 100 NTSPP puzzles.
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Toughie No 3492 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ****/***** – Enjoyment ***
I found this puzzle pretty tricky and my copy of the BRB had to work overtime. I did enjoy the struggle – thanks to Sparks. I can’t find any Nina in the grid – can you?Thanks to Odrum who has found the Nina – see Comment #3. Continue reading “Toughie 3492”
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to a tricky Friday puzzle. Continue reading "DT 30946"
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This puzzle was published on 31st May 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, fantastic Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “DT 30941 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3491 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
This is my last Thursday Toughie blog (at least for the time being); ALP will be moving to this seat from next week and we have a brand new blogger taking over the Tuesday Toughie blog.
Continue reading “Toughie 3491”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30945
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Two sweethearts and the Queen suggest that this has to be a RayT puzzle, although at times it didn’t feel like one of his – maybe it’s just me. Other RayT indicators are single-word answers in the Cryptic and single-word answers and clues in the Quickie. At 5.4 words/clue, it is still very concisely clued, even if it doesn’t quite match the extraordinary brevity of his previous puzzle. No need to pop in to confirm ownership, Ray, but it would be lovely to hear from you, as ever. A first class puzzle, beautifully and succinctly worded. Thank you Ray.
I found it quite tricky in parts, but then I did solve it at midnight, so was probably not at my sharpest. Bizarrely, the puzzle was available on my phone at about 23.30 last night, but I gave up waiting for it to arrive on my laptop. All is well this morning, however, so let’s go…
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle. Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.
Many thanks to our setter and the DT Crossword Team.